It’s clear that business leaders in a range of industries have come to embrace social media channels, including Twitter, to communicate with customers, manage brand reputation and increase brand visibility. But are healthcare executives lagging?

That’s a question Pharma 2.0 bloggers Bunny Ellerin and Eileen O’Brien ask in a recent post:

Tweeting is fast becoming a must-do vs. a what-are-you-doing for business generally and CEO’s in particular. Just last week Twitter published Twitter 101, a guide to help businesses leverage the service. Last month, BusinessWeek ran an article about business leaders who use Twitter and profiled 50 CEO’s from a range of industries. There was definitely an over-representation of tech CEO’s, but BW also talked to those from advertising/pr, construction, research, media, retail. But none in healthcare.

A recent report from the Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies found that social media and Internet usage have the potential to reduce depression levels in senior citizens by 20%–and hence trim the nation’s health care costs.

“Maintaining relationships with friends and family at a time in life when mobility becomes increasingly limited is challenging for the elderly,” says Dr. Sherry G. Ford, a co-author of the study and an associate professor of communication studies at University of Montevallo in Alabama. “Increased Internet access and use by senior citizens enables them to connect with sources of social support when face-to-face interaction becomes more difficult.”

Despite some regulatory uncertainty regarding how the pharmaceutical industry interacts with the public, there are many standout pharma marketing and social media initiatives from which to learn, Socialmedia.biz blogger JD Lasica offers in a recent post.

Lasica identifies the top 10 social media efforts and patient community micro-sites in the pharmaceutical and health care industry:

1. Johnson & Johnson
2. Glaxo-Smith-Kline
3. Bayer
4. Sanofi-Aventis
5. Novartis
6. AstraZenecaUS
7. Bristol-Myers Squibb
8. Roche
9. Pfizer
10. Boehringer Ingelheim

In a slideshow presentation, “Top 10 Pharma Efforts in Social Media,” Lasica offers details of each social media effort, as well as grades each company on their Twitter activity.

When was the last time you were sick but avoided going to the doctor because of all the hassles, from scheduling the appointment to filling out forms and answering medical history questions?

Doctors visits might soon be painless thanks to social media in health care, A Smarter Planet blogger Josh Catone points out.

Web-based and social media tools are making it easier to get health information, Buy Generic pharmacy find doctors, make appointments, keep records, and get support. These tools are revolutionizing the healthcare field and the way people approach the practice of medicine. …

Amidst all of the industries utilizing social media in unique and innovative ways–from technology firms to consumer products manufacturers–there is one flying under radar. Rohit Bhargava, on the Fresh Influence blog, points out that hospitals are quietly but actively involved on Buy Generic Cialis the social web.

Today in the US, there are 367 hospitals that are actively using social media. Collectively they are responsible for 186 YouTube Channels which include over 5,000 videos. They have created 267 Twitter accounts and published more than 10,000 tweets. …